1. IntroductionThe United States of America is a classic example of a two-party political system. (cf. McDonald/Samples, 2006: 18). The Republican Party and the Democratic Party… However, at the beginning of 2009, a new influential actor, outside the party, appeared on the political scene. The Tea Party movement was able to significantly influence the 2010 elections to the United States House of Representatives and Senate. Their main positions, which can be found in their “Contract from America” (Tea Party Movement, 2010), played a major role in the electoral campaigns of both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party (...). The Tea Party advocates for better control of the constitutional powers of Congress, for fewer environmental regulations likely to have a negative impact on the economy, for a balanced budget, for reform of the single-rate tax system, for a more small and more efficient as well as subsidiarity at federal, state and local level, for a reduction in the growth of federal government expenditure, for a more market-oriented health system, for a reduction in dependence on foreign energy sources, for more restrictive energy rules. the use of earmarked funds and the repeal of all currently planned tax increases (ibid.). Their positions can be summed up as a strong stance against “big government,” especially the federal government. Relying on a framework of rational spatial choice of competition between parties developed by Anthony Downs, I seek to analyze in this article what are the reasons which allow the Tea Party Movement to force the established parties, first and foremost the Republican Party , to adopt many of their positions in their electoral campaigns. Along the same lines, the central research question of this article is whether the Tea Party movement could become a real party participating directly in American party competition by fielding candidates for office. all kinds of elections - state, federal or even presidential. The “Grand Old Party” changes its position on “big government” to come closer to the positions of the Tea Party in order to deprive them of any incentive to present their own candidates since their interest will then already be defended by the Republicans. In doing so, the Republican Party admits that this behavior could actually weaken its own position in the election, as Democrats could also attempt to shift their position further to the right, thereby absorbing some of the traditional Republican voters. But for the Republican Party, this option is the lesser of two evils: as our analysis has shown, the creation of a true Tea Party could significantly endanger the political survival of the Republican Party..